


And The Walls Came Tumbling Down

by LdyAnne



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Challenge Response, Dark, Drama, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-29
Updated: 2011-10-29
Packaged: 2017-10-25 01:45:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/270361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LdyAnne/pseuds/LdyAnne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Altantis' last day. This one is dark.  Written as a challenge, the prompt is 'ends.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	And The Walls Came Tumbling Down

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Thanks to chocolatephysicist for betaing. You are the best! Any mistakes remaining are my own.
> 
> This one is very dark, there are no happy endings. I just thought you should know.

There were only a handful of them left to witness Atlantis' final moments – Rodney, Radek, Elizabeth and John. Everyone else was gone as the Wraith flooded their city, hunting the last few human survivors that blocked the way to their goal. The last few who stood between the Wraith and Earth.

They evacuated everyone they could back to Earth. The evacuation had been hurried and there were those who hadn't made it in the time allotted. They'd been off-world or on the main land. Then there were people who had to stay behind and make sure that nothing of the Ancients or any clue leading to Earth was left for the Wraith to find. The Daedalus had only just reached Earth and wasn't going to be appearing for any last minute rescues this time.

Carson had refused to leave his patients when the Wraith appeared above the city with a fleet so vast it seemed innumerable. He and his staff had stayed to the last tech and put up a resistance of their own, slowing the tide in the only way they could.

The last thing those in the control room heard from Carson over the radio was, "You'll have to go through me, lads, to get to me patients." Then there as an explosion that rocked the city.

Who knew that the healers could cause so much damage? Of course they also had Bates with them, laid up in the infirmary with a broken leg he'd sustained off-world. The man was lethal when unleashed. A fact the Wraith had found out first hand.

Lorne had holed up in the mess hall. He and his people there made the Wraith pay for every body they took. They fought a loosing battle and in the end were over run by the sheer numbers. But they'd all decided they'd rather be dead than taken by the Wraith.

John had the remote for all the little booby traps they'd been able to set for their unwelcome visitors.

They heard Lorne say, "It's been an honor serving with you, sir." John's eyes were nearly black with rage and sorrow, his face set and unreadable. Except Rodney saw the pain and anger in the tightness of his jaw, in the stillness of his body.

And when Lorne said, "Do it, sir, we're taking some of the bastards with us," John pushed the button without hesitation.

That explosion was muffled by distance, but they heard it all the same. A moan seemed to go through Atlantis itself, a mourning cry for her dead and dying.

Teyla and Ronon had gone with a couple of marines, more than they could spare, but they could send no less, to try and save some of her people on the mainland. Rodney was sure that they would die fighting. Their efforts would be as valiant and as futile as all the rest. The Wraith had come and all they could do now was try to keep them from reaching Earth.

Rodney watched as everything and everyone had had come to love died and he didn't even have time to mourn as he and Zelenka worked to destroy every last sign and clue leading to Earth.

Because that was why the Wraith came. They were determined this time to finally have their new feeding ground and Atlantis was the key to finding it. They came in endless waves, overrunning Atlantis by sheer numbers in the effort.

Standing next to Rodney, his fingers flying over the keyboard, Radek worked feverishly to finish a virus that would forever scramble Atlantis' systems. If the Wraith broke through into the control room before Rodney finished his task, there would be nothing left working for the Wraith to study. Rodney worked to create a chain reaction that would destroy Atlantis and as many of the Wraith as they could take with them.

It was a race now to finish their tasks before the Wraith gained entry into the control room. John had set booby traps all over the city and he stood grimly next to their grid of the city. They'd finally configured it so that it would show human life signs as green and Wraith life signs as red. Except for the pitiful four life signs in the control rooms, the read-out glowed a mass of red, there was no one left but them. John watched, his face unreadable, as the Wraith spread through the city, coming closer and closer to the control room and their final destination of Earth.

Elizabeth stood to the side, useless. She'd refused to go through with the last of the evacuees, but now she stood with her arms wrapped around herself, trying to hold back the chill that threatened to steal her away. There was nothing she could do, nothing she could say. Her people had given all they had and were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to save Earth and all it represented. And all she could do was stand back and watch.

She watched as John worked his booby traps, blowing up Wraiths and knowing it wasn't enough. Rodney and Radek were intent on their tasks. All the two men had left defending them was John Sheppard and Elizabeth Weir. John was an army unto himself. He had taken out more of the Wraith in that one day then they had ever seen before. But he was running out of tricks. Their time was running out.

They were all to busy in their own separate jobs, all too busy racing their own doomsday clock. No one saw Elizabeth pick up one of the lethal little bombs John had left on the conference table for when their time came. No one saw her cross to the door where the Wraith would be any moment.

They did hear the door when it opened. They all looked up, startled, to see her there taking one last look back at them before stepping through. The door shut behind her.

It wasn't long before they heard another explosion, this one close enough to rattle the equipment and the lights dimmed. Atlantis herself wasn't going to last much longer.

Rodney swallowed down a lump that threatened to choke him. He knew their time was ending and he'd never seen it coming. Somehow he had thought they were going to live forever. And now he didn't know how to say goodbye – to the man he loved and his best friend.

"John..."

Blinking over at Rodney, for just a split second John-the-soldier was gone and Rodney saw the face of John, the man he loved. It was full of affection and humor, alight with love.

"I know, Rodney, me, too," was all John said before he turned back to his console watching the Wraith move through his city and blowing up pieces of it where he could do the most damage.

"Radek..."

Zelenka just scowled at him, "Please to not be telling me it is an honor to serve. You are pain in the ass every day of the week and now at last I will get some rest." But Zelenka's eyes were suspiciously bright and he paused in his typing to wipe an eye.

Wearily Rodney turned back to his own laptop. God, this day just sucked.

There wasn't time for much more as the Wraith were at their door, it blew open with a fiery blast. The Wraith were done playing nice with them.

John met them head on. His P-90 rattled non stop. But there were too many of them and one of them downed him while another plunged his hand into John's chest.

Rodney stood frozen at the rail as the Wraith swarmed up the stairs. He caught John's eyes and he saw everything that was unspoken between them.

Between one heartbeat and the next, Rodney remembered....

 _He remembered –_

 _.... the first time he'd seen John. He was pissed as hell that this stranger, some no-brain grunt had made his chair light up like Christmas and the 4th of July._

 _... the first time they'd entered Atlantis and it had welcomed them home._

 _... the light in John's eyes as he ran his hands over the consoles of the puddlejumper._

 _... the first mission John had dragged Rodney on, kicking and screaming the entire way, but secretly delighted to have been asked._

 _... the first time he sat next to John's bed in the infirmary waiting for him to wake and afraid that he never would as Rodney slowly came to realize what John meant to him._

 _... the first time John had kissed him. It was slow and tentative and a little afraid, unsure of Rodney's response._

 _... the first time their bodies had moved together in the night, the smell of sweat and sex heavy around them, the press of their bodies together was intoxicating and they'd both come way too soon. But then they'd rested together afterwards, arms wrapped around each other, neither one willing to let go._

 _... the first time John had pushed into Rodney. It had been scary and exhilarating at the same time with a wonderful sense of discovery like finding a ZPM or really good chocolate. Rodney felt so safe at that moment to have John filling him and surrounding him completely._

 _... the first time they'd dared to spend the night together. Waking with the sun shining down on them, warming them, a tangle of arms and legs. It was nearly impossible to tell where Rodney ended and John began._

"McKay," John shouted to him. He was on his knees, the Wraith had a hand on his chest, where only Rodney's hand should be. "Please..."

Without thinking about it, because if he stopped to think he could never have done it, Rodney drew the 9 mil in one smooth motion. His aim was more sure than it had ever been, but he had a good teacher.

"I'll see you soon, John," Rodney whispered as he squeezed the trigger.

There was almost no time before the shot found its target. There was a spray of blood and the light went out of John's eyes. His lifeless husk fell to the floor.

The Wraith turned with a snarl, furious at being cheated out its prey. It started up the stairs toward Rodney, one in a flood of Wraith.

"Radek?" Rodney shouted.

"I am done," Zelenka said, almost anti-climatically, "Do it."

The Wraith was almost at the top of the stairs. Rodney waited until he was at the top.

"You will leave my city now," Rodney said.

Then he pushed the button that would destroy the city that had survived 10,000 years on the bottom of the sea. It would destroy everything and everyone he loved. He did it to save the six billion people of Earth and the countless trillions who lived in the Milky Way Galaxy.

But those numbers were too large and impersonal. Rodney understood them, understood the necessity for safeguarding those lives, but in the end Rodney pushed the button for one reason alone, because he knew that once the end came, he and John would be together again.

The city exploded, a chain reaction of apocalyptic proportion as only could be devised by one Dr. Rodney McKay. One ball of flame went up after another, the flames licked upwards. It lit up the evening sky taking some of the Wraith flying too lover over city with it.

There was a final shudder and a shriek. The city began to sink once more, taking her children to a watery grave where they would at last find peace.


End file.
